Electronic marketplaces (e.g., Internet- or web-based marketplaces) have become legitimate alternatives to traditional “brick and mortar” retail stores. For instance, consumers may visit a merchant's website to view and/or purchase goods and services offered for sale by the merchant (and/or third party merchants). In many cases, consumers appreciate the convenience and simplicity of the shopping experience provided by electronic marketplaces. For example, a consumer may quickly browse an electronic catalog (e.g., via a web browser) and select one or more items from the catalog for purchase. Such items may be shipped directly to the consumer thereby relieving the consumer of the inconvenience of traveling to a physical store.
In a retail shopping experience, consumers may immediately know the date at which an item will be acquired. For in-stock items, this date may be the same as the date of purchase. For example, a user may visit an electronics retail store to purchase a portable music player. If the portable music player is in-stock, the user may purchase and acquire the player during the same visit. The ability to know when an item will be acquired prior to finalizing a decision to purchase the item can be beneficial to the consumer. For example, a consumer may want to ensure that a gift item is acquired prior to a gift recipient's birthday.
Electronic marketplaces may also provide consumers with information that specifies when an item will be provided to a consumer. For example, an item detail web page provided by a merchant may specify that the respective item can be delivered to the consumer by a certain date if the consumer purchases the item by a certain deadline. For instance, a product detail page may specify that an item may be delivered to a consumer within two days if the consumer purchases the item within the next four hours. Upon purchasing the item, the consumer may also be given estimates of shipping and delivery dates for the item. Consumers may view this type of information as a promise to be fulfilled by the merchant. If such promise is broken (e.g., the item is not shipped or delivered by the estimated dates), the consumer's opinion of the merchant may be negatively impacted, which may decrease the chance that the consumer will patronize the merchant in the future. If the promise is upheld, the consumer may form a favorable opinion of the merchant, which may increase the chance that the consumer will provide the merchant with repeat business.
While the system and method for selectively advancing items in a picking schedule is described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the system and method for selectively advancing items in a picking schedule is not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the system and method for selectively advancing items in a picking schedule to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the system and method for selectively advancing items in a picking schedule as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.